Finished the Odyssey!

It is over. I have done it. There were times of trials, times of laughter, times of friendship, but all in all, it was a journey I do not regret taking.
Yeah, it wasn't that hard. But a little exaggeration never hurt anyone, right? Anyways, I did indeed finish the Odyssey. And I have to say, the ending was AWESOME. Not only had I mastered Active Reading, so I could read the book pretty much un-cluttered, but the climax was really sweet. I think that people need to stop freaking out over all the gore, because that made the ending that much more awesome. When Ulysses is shooting all the suitors with his super awesome bow and arrows, he didn't just kill Antinous. No, instead, he shot him and blood gushed forth from his nostrils, spilling into his golden cup of wine.
Epic.
And when he kills another suitor, the arrow doesn't just hit him. It enters through his nipple and embeds itself in his liver.
Absolutely epic.
The very ending itself, though, was kind of stupid. It was just like Homer had decided to stop writing. Like, all this tension is there, and suddenly, Ulysses just calms down, and "Minerva makes peace between the two contending parties." THE END. Seriously, apparently he ran out of time and just had to end it then and there. Sirry Homer. But all in all, this was an enjoyable read. Once I got past the clumsy Active Reading and got better at it, I found I could really fall into the story. I might just end up reading the Iliad, who knows? Or maybe I'll just read the Wikipedia article NO I'M GOING TO READ IT I SWEAR *cough cough cough
But all joking aside, I did like it. I also just discovered strikethrough and have been using it all the time, in case you couldn't tell XD
But that's about it for me, folks. I read some great Nano's! Good job to all! And this is Red Leader, signing off. (Star Wars FTW)

Book- A Shattered Trust (Yes, it's a novel, so it counts. Shut up and proofread plz)
Video Game- The Elder Scrolls III- Morrowind (Still not sure if it's better than Skyrim. So I'm playing them both.)
Music- Feast For The Vain- Kamelot (Yes this is kind of cheating, since this is a song off my album from last week, but I finally decided this is my favorite song, so I say you listen to it again. And again. And again.)
Classical Music- Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor, ALL 4 MOVEMENTS. THIS SONG MAKES MY LIFE WORTH LIVING.

Books XII-XVIII

Finished the reading once more. I'm really happy that we FINALLY got off Ulysses' story. As much as I love Ulysses, I'm happy to see that Telemachus and him met up. After a tearful reunion, of course. Speaking of which, I swear every single person in this book spends all day crying. Penelope's always crying. Ulysses and his crew cry at least a dozen times during the adventure. Telemachus is always crying. He cries even more when he meets up with his dad. EVERYONE CRIES!!!!!!
But anyways. I was somewhat disappointed that the confrontation with the suitors lying in ambush amounted to... well nothing really. It just kind of dissipated into thin air. That great cliffhanger, that we had to suffer READ through half the book for just went poof. Which makes me sad.
BUT I did find something that made me happy, or at least somewhat amused. You know how EVERY SINGLE DAWN it starts with "When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn appeared"? Well I found somewhere were it didn't say that. While I can't seem to find it now (apparently it didn't hit me until AFTER I closed the book...?) I know that somewhere, it said "When dawn broke". That's right. Not even a capital on dawn. I was impressed.
Finally, my last rant of the day was with the swineherd, Eumaeus. Normally, it would just say "Eumaeus said" or whatever. But every once in a while, usually at the start of a paragraph, it says "Then you said, O swineherd Eumaeus."... Wait... what? Is the narrator talking to ME? Am I Eumaeus? I know it's no one else talking to him, since there's no quotations or anything. He's just, you know, famous and whatnot. I just hope it doesn't show up too much more. Because it bugs me more than dawn.

Book- The Skystone- Martin White
Videogame- Legend of Zelda, the Twilight Princess (Yes I am aware Skyward Sword is out. I'm just playing this to prepare myself for the awesome.)
Music- Hmmmmm... I can't choose a song so here's an entire album of awesome. Epica- Kamelot
Classical- Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Cellos in G Minor. SO. MUCH. WIN.

That's about it for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed NANO! And even more, I HOPE YOU WON! I read some pretty good stories, so I'm hopeful. And tired of reading them. BUT hopeful :"D

Books VIII-X

Since we had two weeks, I split my reading of the Odyssey into two sections. So, I just finished Book VIII-X, and I'm really starting to get wrapped up in the story. In this section, it once again focuses on Ulysses, and his efforts to return home. And once again, I am really happy that we get to see more of Ulysses. I'm surprised to find he's one of my favorite characters, always doing the right thing, and such. I also appreciate how Homer is really developing the characters more. We got to see some of Ulysses' humanity in these books, as he gets both angry and emotional at the house of Alcinous. We also get to see his great skills at many different sports, against the sons of Alcinous, among others. We see how powerful he can be when he is taunted, and yet at the same time, how weak. Later, he describes his journey before he is trapped with Calypso. It was really great to see the story I had heard a lot, the story of the Cyclops, actually written in The Odyssey. Now, we continue his back-story, as he reaches yet another island. (So many islands...) As a side note, I would also like to note a quite annoying word, that I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce. On page 68, at the top, it's the "Aeaean Island." There is literally five vowels in a row. That's more than queuing! (Or not. Scratch that.) But seriously, is it "Aaaeeeeaaaeeeeannnnnn?" Or something? Like, do you stretch out all the syllables? Because that's what I've got at this point. But anyways...

Book- Patriot Games- Tom Clancy
Video Game- SKKKKYYYYYRRRIIIIIIMMMMMMM *squeals
Music- Through the Fire and the Flames- Dragonforce
Classical Music- Danzon No. 2- Arturo Marquez (Note that this isn't exactly classical persay, but it's a symphony and whatnot so yeah)

Also, if you haven't heard the good news (which means you aren't friends with me on Facebook) then I made All-State Orchestra, which means I'm the 5th best cellist in the state :D :D :D
But that's it for me. Have a happy Thanksgiving! Just don't let it get in the way of NANO!

Book V-VII

Well I finished the next part of the Odyssey. It didn't feel at all as tedious as the last part was, for some reason. Maybe it's because it's less boring, or maybe just because I'm getting better at active reading. I like to prefer the latter. I liked how we finally got to meet Ulysses, and got to stay with him for a little bit. While I was kind of grumpy it didn't expand on what happened at the end of the last part (cliffhanger for the loss) I did enjoy hearing about Ulysses' troubles and adventure. I'm very glad he finally is on his way home, because I've been his secret cheerleader. (Shhhhhh, I don't have a megahorn and pom-poms in my closet, you heard nothing.)
I am getting surprisingly wrapped up in the plot. I find that the active reading isn't getting in the way like it used to, and now I'm actually able to ENJOY the story. (What? No!) I do like how clear-cut Homer makes the characters, especially. I hate when I have to decide whether or not I like or don't like a character. Here, it's just; "HEY. THIS GUY IS GOOD. THIS GUY IS NOT." Which is much better than, "This guy has questionable morals, yet he still does the right thing. So is it morals or actions that define a character, hmmmmm?" And stuff like that. *grumbles
I might also add that I've even started to get over the random useless info! (*gasp WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ETHAN?) All joking aside, though, I do find it's less cluttery and annoying. So I think the rest of this book will be very good.

As for my weekly recommendations...
Book- Inheritance, Christopher Paolini
Video Game- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (AKA that which turned my life into a black hole of nothingness)
Music- The Heavy Rain EXTENDED Soundtrack, Normand Corbeil (To be found on Youtube of course)
Classical Music- Orpheus in the Underworld, Jacques Offenbach

Have a nice week, everyone! Don't let the weasels bite your ankles off! (NANO reference for the win.)

Book II-IV and blog announcements

Well I finished Books II-IV in The Odyssey (and I'm sorry about the late post but time's been thin in our house lately :/) and everything I think about the book can be culminated as follows. It's enjoyable, except for ALL THE UNNECESSARY DETAILS. Literally, it makes the story hard to read. I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT MENELAUS IS THE SON OF HIM WHO'S THE SON OF HIM WHO'S THE SON OF HIM WHO HAS AN EXTREMELY EXTENSIVE 20 PAGE LONG BACKSTORY!!!!!!!!
Yes I did use hyperbole but that is what it feels like. It's extremely annoying. But other than that, everything's pretty good. I feel like writing a whole summary of the books would be quite tedious and somewhat redundant considering everyone read the same thing I did but to put it shortly... *deep breath...
Telemachus and Minerva went on the journey first to Nestor then to Menelaus to find information of Ulysses and Nestor said he knew little so while Minerva left Telemachus went to Menelaus and he had lots of backstory but it ultimately culminated in he didn't totally know either so now Telemachus is going to be ambushed by the suitors.
Yes I did say that all in one breath. But there you go. Story's getting good!
And on the other part of the title... I decided since apparently we can have some fun with these that I will be doing weekly recommendations, in a format that follows.

THINGS OF THE WEEK-
Book- _____________________
Video game- __________________
Music- ___________________
Classical Music- __________________

Now for some explaining. See, I learned no one takes my advice seriously. Yet I still don't stop trying. And so I took my 'fads' or things that I get totally obsessed with on a week to week basis (as in they change every week) and decided to tell you all of the wonderful things in my life. Yes I realize this is silly and completely uneducational and I highly doubt ANYONE will follow ANYTHING I say but what the heck, life's about having fun, and I find this strangely entertaining. And as for the music, I find I listen to so much classical it deserves its own category. Congrats, classical. BUT MORE TO THE POINT- here goes... *crosses fingers




THINGS OF THE WEEK-
Book- The Odyssey
Video game- Been hooked on Batman: Arkham City lately
Music- Hero- Nickelback (Great song plus it ties in with PATH!)
Classical Music- Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8 (I think) "Unfinished". 'TIS GLORIOUS

Well thanks for listening to my crazed rambling. Don't worry, I'm not that crazy. Not yet. *eye twitch

NANO

For those of you who ARE doing the adult's NANO and ALSO see my blog, first off, good job, and second, I'm under the name killinglights on the site so you can make me your 'writing buddy'... And if anyone has any questions since apparently I'm the resident expert on this go ahead and ask!

Finished Book I

Well I finally finished book I of The Odyssey and I figured I should talk about it... It was long and hard, but I found writing summaries of each paragraph was helpful. It was 'fun' (as far as fun goes while reading this :/) to make short term predictions, and see if they were right or not. But I guess it's kind of interesting... YAY I guess.

I GET THE FIRST POST. HAHA.

Um new blog and stuff. Odyssey is like reading the Bible. But whatevs. PATH and stuff. YAY.